There has also been a question posed that asks how do we tell dreams apart from reality. There is no certain way of knowing that we are awake or asleep. We think we can by our experiences of being awake and asleep, but is this really an efficient way to tell it apart?

Post edited at 10:52 pm on Nov. 19, 2008 by Anonymous

I feel like most people would have just taken the pill that kept them in the illusion, because that is what they know, and people like to stick to that

Knowing me, once I knew that there was another reality, I'd have to turn around in my chair and walk up to the light. And then I'd walk back down to educate those stuck looking at the shadows of reality. Or just laugh at them.

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a purpose to human life, no matter who is controlling it,
is to love whoever is around to be loved
- kurt vonnegut

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I feel like this is a really deep question that we won't know the answer to no matter how long and hard we think about it.  

I feel like most people would have just taken the pill that kept them in the illusion, because that is what they know, and people like to stick to that

Knowing me, once I knew that there was another reality, I'd have to turn around in my chair and walk up to the light. And then I'd walk back down to educate those stuck looking at the shadows of reality. Or just laugh at them.

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yeah you are way better than most people

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have your lawyer call my lawyer
you're out of your mind

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the matrix is an illusion

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and no we are not in a matrix

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This is a very philosophical question, so HuffleHaire, you're correct. Chances are, there will never be a correct answer.

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and no we are not in a matrix

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How do you know? Can you prove it?

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i can't prove it the same way i can't prove beyond doubt that you aren't a reptilian shapeshifter from mars, but i'm comfortable with my position

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have your lawyer call my lawyer
you're out of your mind

There is no escaping the fact that this our reality either.

We must face this fact ready and willing.

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In one way or another, the lives we're living now are reality. Personally, I highly doubt that we're living in a Matrix of sorts, but anything's possible. Unlikely, but possible.

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I find it highly odd that the word "Unlikely" should creep in there.  

what is there on earth to suggest it is "unlikely"?, how would you deny my assertion that it is not "Unlikely" but "almost certain"??

O.P

1) I think you would do better with reference to Descartes than Plato.  

2) one powerful philosophical point that "the matrix" missed was that there seems to be the idea that "we can know of things" -- but such is not the case.

suppose the following arguement and present it to Neo.

p.1) The Machines keep control by tricking us into thinking the illusion is real

p.2) if they can build a Matrix "1", they can build a 2nd or "backup" matrix (just in case the first should fail in some way)

now ask Neo this: how can you know that Morpheus has shown him the real world? what makes him so sure that this real world is not simply another illusion?  

...isnt it equally true that he could have been awake, and then started dreaming? (in other worlds, the first world was the real world, the world of Zion and machines the dream)  

Indeed, how can Neo know he knows anything?

this if the flaw in the Pill question, how do we know that, when we wake, our eyes will see things for what they actually are

Post edited at 8:25 pm on Nov. 20, 2008 by Blackadder

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The truth is what money can be made from a lie.